This invention is related to systems and methods for recording and deleting programs and more particularly, systems and methods for recording and deleting programs that are of lesser importance to the user.
Recording devices, such as digital video recording (DVR) devices, are well known in the art but still have deficiencies. A user of a DVR device may schedule recordings for a number of programs that he or she may not have the same level of interest in. Should a scheduling conflict occur, the user may be forced to choose to record the program or programs he or she is most interested in, and then search for another broadcast of the other program or programs to record. This may be burdensome and complicated, or perhaps just undesirable, for some users.
A user of a DVR device may experience a similar, undesirable experience when, for example, the user tries to record a program and finds that the DVR device has insufficient space remaining. The user is then forced to either cancel the recording, or select and delete one or more recorded programs to make room for the new program. This experience may even be more frustrating if the user's DVR has space available when the user schedules the recording, but does not have enough space when the program is transmitted. In such cases, unless the user fortuitously checked the DVR device and made space before the broadcast time, the requested program may not be recorded. When the user is more interested in the program he or she wanted to record than in programs already recorded, the experience can be quite frustrating.
As yet another example of a potentially undesirable experience, a DVR device may automatically delete programs in order to make room for a new recording. If the DVR deletes a program that the user is more interested in than the program being recorded, such a result may frustrate the user.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide systems and methods for recording programs for which a user has lesser interest at a convenient time.